Found You
by HeartofFire-SoulofWater
Summary: The gAang is playing Hide 'n' Go Seek when Zuko stumbles upon Katara, all by herself... oneshot. Zutara.
1. Epilogue

**Happy New Year's Eve, everyone! Hope yall had a wonderful year and the next one is ten times better!**

**OK, so about this story... Zuko's hair is the same as in the latest episodes and he still has his scar. (We all know Zuko's appearance is the most important thing about a Zutara story. Hehe.) He and Iroh joined the group a few weeks ago, and we'll say this takes place, uhhm... right after Appa was stolen, and they're searching for him. They are out of the desert but NOT in Ba Sing Se yet. **

**This will most likely remain a oneshot.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters, and I am not making any profit off of this story.**

**---**

The group was resting for a day on their way to Ba Sing Se, as ordered by Katara, since she believed they all needed some time to recuperate. They had made camp at a small clearing in the forest and were sitting on rocks, logs, or just the ground around the small fire Zuko had made to keep them warm.

Thump thump thump thump...

Thump thump thump thump...

Thump thump thump thump...

"WILL YOU STOP THAT?!?"

"Oh, sorry, Katara." Aang meekly replied, "I'm just so bored..."

"We all are, Twinkle Toes. Katara, can't we go kick some bad guy butt or something?"

"No, we're not putting in ourselves in any more danger than we have to."

"I'm huuuungry."

"Shut up, Sokka."

"..."

thump thump thump...

A low growl escaped from Katara's throat and Aang shrank away from her out of fear. Iroh chuckled.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Aang piped up.

"I'm up for anything that'll keep us entertained." Toph answered.

"How about we play hide and seek? Or tag?"

"No way, we are _not _playing hide and seek." Katara said, "Remember what happened last time, Sokka?"

"Aww, Katara, do you _have _to bring that up again? It was a big place; it's not my fault I got lost."

"Too bad your _instincts _couldn't help you find the way back."

Iroh chuckled, again.

"What are you laughing at, old man?" Sokka muttered.

"Don't pick on Uncle Iroh, it's not _his _fault you have absolutely no sense of direction."

"Alright, fine, Katara. Let's play hide and seek, and when I find my way back and win the game we'll so who has the better instincts."

"Maybe you should take Momo with you, just in case." Katara giggled.

"So who's it?" Aang asked.

"Not me," Toph replied, "I'll find you all easily by feeling the vibrations. Pick someone else."

"Not me." chorused Katara, Aang, and Sokka.

"... Zuko?"

"No."

"Aww, please, Zuko? We need someone to be it or else it's not gonna work!" Katara said in a sing-song voice and gave him her puppy dog eyes.

"No."

"If you do, we'll never make you play games with us ever again."

"Is that a promise?"

"Well... at least not for another week."

"Fine." he muttered.

"Thank you!" Katara squealed, and they all ran in different directions as Zuko closed his eyes and began to count.

"One, two, three..."

---

Katara ran through the forest, trying to find the perfect place to hide. In a tree? No, too obvious. In the water? Who knew how long Zuko would take to find her, she might get tired of bending herself an air bubble. Behind a rock? Yeah, that'd work. _Not._ She scurried around when she stumbled through some vines hanging down from a tree, acting almost like a doorway, and fell to her knees inside.

While still on the ground, Katara felt water beckoning her, and heard the gentle rush of water to her left. She gasped as a small rivulet came into view; it was sparkling, practically glowing, from the sunlight pouring down on it through the canopy of trees. The spring was small and slow, trickling over small stones, a miniature waterfall near the end of it. It was probably no wider than Appa, and was as clear as the air she breathed.

Katara simply stood where she was for a while, shocked at how beautiful the water was. She closed her eyes and let air slowly enter her lungs, raising her arms and spinning in circles, happiness filling her as birds flew amongst the trees, singing their joyful songs.

She stopped spinning and looked at the trees before her, walking around a particularly beautiful one and resting her back on it while she closed her eyes and just breathed.

**-----  
**  
"Forty-eight, forty-nine, fifty."

Zuko opened his eyes and took a step forward before he realized there was something he was supposed to say after he finished counting. Oh yes, that was it.

"Uhh, ready or not here I come... I guess."

He looked around him, hoping to catch someone quickly and get the game over with.

Walking a ways to his left, he heard rushing water and followed the sound, thinking maybe someone else might have done the same. Zuko walked between two large trees and saw a small river on his right. He was paralyzed for a moment by the river until he heard soft breathing to his left. He cautiously stepped towards the sound, being as quiet as possible so that he could sneak up on whoever was hiding. As Zuko moved closer, he saw a blue parka and brown hair, and realized it was Katara.

_Perfect._ He thought to himself, smirking and moving ever closer.

---

Katara breathed in and out rhythmically for a few minutes when she heard rustling behind her. She almost opened her eyes, but dismissed the sound and kept them shut. When she heard it again, Katara spun around to see Zuko's face only inches in front of hers.

"Found you." Zuko smirked, and put his arms on either side of Katara's body, hands on the tree behind her.

"Zuko!" she gasped, and looked around frantically for an escape.

"Afraid of me, little waterbender?"

"In your dreams." she glared.

"You're shaking."

"Am not." she retorted, though she knew very well that she was. But it wasn't so much that she was scared, it was something about how close he was to her; his breath hot on her neck, his amber eyes looking deep into her cerulean ones, that made her shiver with... anticipation? What was she anticipating? And then it hit her; Zuko had been closing the gap between them with each second that passed. His body was an inch away from hers, his face even closer. Warmth radiated off of his body and onto hers, making her eyes flutter from the feeling. Katara was shaking because she was nervous; she was anxious.

Anxious for a kiss from Zuko.

The second realization hit her, his lips were on hers, sending a thousand, no, a _million_ bolts of electricity through her body, causing her to shiver and her knees to buckle. But Zuko caught her; held her her closer and kissed her with more passion than he knew he possessed. Kissed her like his whole life would shrivel away and disappear if he didn't. Kissed her like the sun kissed the clouds at sunset. Kissed her like the moon kissed the stars at twilight. And somehow Katara knew that he would always catch her when she fell, for his arms held her perfectly, like they were where they were made to be, and deep down she felt as if she belonged.

But they mournfully broke away, for they needed air as much as they needed each other's lips. Mournfully, for a kiss like that was one in a million, to be remembered and cherished for all their lives.

Zuko pressed his forehead to Katara's and looked into her deep blue eyes, and neither of them said a word for what seemed like hours, both in complete shock as their bodies shook against each other, hearts beating together, overwhelmed with a feeling completely new to both of them.

"Zuko, I..." Katara said in a daze, her eyelids still fluttering.

"I know."

"But we-"

"Shh..." Zuko said as he raised a hand to her cheek, caressing it gently and she closed her eyes, soaking in his warmth.

But just like that the feeling was gone. His breath no longer warmed her neck, his chest no longer pressed itself against her own, and as she opened her eyes, he was no where to be seen.

---

**So, did you like it? I'm probably going to do another chapter, even though I said this was going to be a oneshot. I'll do it chapter by chapter, and see how I feel about it. **

**PLEASE REVIEW!**

HoFSoW 


	2. Cooking Soup

**Hey yall, how's your first day of 2007 going? I spent all my day procrastinating… such a good way to start off the year, isn't it? LOL. Thank you jessicadanielle for my first review! **

**Well, I have no idea what to write now. I'll just do it as I go and hope it turns out good... oh yeah F.Y.I., in my story, Aang never kissed Katara.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters, and I am not making any profit off of this story.**

---

Katara slowly walked back to camp, running into a few trees and tripping over a few roots as a result of her distraction.

_That was _Zuko_ that she kissed, right? Is that _possible_? Why didn't the world explode or something?_

Even though the banished prince and his uncle had joined the group weeks ago, Zuko had never really seemed to fit in. Iroh quickly became one of the crew, but Zuko isolated himself on purpose by sleeping farther away from them, eating by himself away from the campsite, and only talking to them when necessary, despite Aang's sweet attempts to start conversations with him. He just seemed to like to be alone.

Katara often wondered if he had some sort of mental disorder. He sure acted like it. Whenever she tried to speak with him, he would merely grunt or rudely ignore her. She sometimes told herself he must be mute. Either that, or he was just plain stupid.

She had never been friendly with him, maybe they all still held resentment towards him for chasing them around the world and trying to capture them, which was completely reasonable if you asked Katara. Sokka sure did, and he certainly didn't have trouble expressing his feelings. Katara just genuinely disliked Zuko; he was rude, mean, and always in a bad mood. But when he kissed her _(Did that actually happen, or had she been dreaming? Why would she dream about kissing _Zuko?, she felt something other than a general disliking of him. As a matter of fact, it was the complete opposite of that, she… liked him?

"Ouch!" Katara yelped, "Why do I keep running into trees?!?"

"Aang, I think I hear Katara! This way!" Sokka yelled and pointed into the trees.

"I'm right here, Sokka. I just ran into a tree."

As Sokka ran towards Katara, she could see the frown on his face. As she looked around and actually took in her surroundings for the first time since the… _well, you know_… in the forest, Katara realized that it was sunrise. The sky was no longer pitch black, and the sun was peeking out over the clouds.

_Uh oh. _She thought. _Sokka's going to kill me! How long have I been gone? Where did all the time go?_

And she left our world again, daydreaming about Zuko's beautiful amber eyes.

"KATARA!! Helloooo, Earth to Katara!" Sokka yelled in her face.

"Huh? Oh sorry, what?"

"What do you mean 'what?' I said 'Where have you been?!'"

"And would you happen to know where my nephew is?" Iroh chimed in, a smirk on his face.

"Uhhm… I got lost… and Zuko's fine. He, uhh… he… he left."

"He left? Left to go where?" Iroh asked.

"Uhhm… on a walk. He said he'd be back after a while."

"You got lost? After all your talk about _my _bad instincts, _you _got lost?"

"Oh, be quiet, Sokka."

"No, no, no! There is _no way_ that's gonna happen! I'm NEVER letting you live this down!"

She let Sokka ramble on about his oh-so-perfect instincts while Katara stared at the horizon, thinking about the kiss she shared with the man she would never expect it from.

---

Zuko spent about an hour or so walking through the forest and occasionally stopping to practice his bending before he returned to their campsite. There he found Katara cooking a meal for the practically-drooling Sokka beside her while his uncle made a pot of tea and conversed with Aang.

He walked over to his uncle and sat down next to them.

"Oh there you are, Zuko. Miss Katara told us you went on a walk. Would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, Uncle."

Katara gasped when she heard Zuko's voice and turned around to find him looking straight at her. She blushed and quickly turned around; stirring the pot of soup she was cooking furiously. Zuko smirked and stood up, striding towards her. He leaned around her shoulder and whispered in her ear:

"What are you cooking?"

She jumped and dropped the spoon on the ground.

"Oh! Uhhm… just some… uhh… soup! You can have some, but you'll have to wait over there with your uncle, away from here!" she nervously chattered.

"Why, don't you like me, Katara?"

"Yes! I mean no! I mean… it's just that, uhh… this is a secret recipe! And you _cannot _see it! So you _have _to go sit away from me."

Katara was so nervous around him, she couldn't think straight with him so close. She certainly couldn't cook like that. He smirked and grazed a hand across her back.

"Alright, if that's the situation I guess I can wait over there for you to finish. It just looks like it will taste so delicious…"

She jumped again as he touched her back and remembered just how delicious Zuko… err, her soup, did taste.

Zuko's smirk was bigger than ever as he took his place next to Uncle again.

---

It was nighttime, and everyone was preparing for bed. Katara hadn't been thinking clearly all day, and had run into quite a few more things (such as Sokka), resulting in a bad headache. She looked around and saw that everyone was sleeping, double-checking to make sure Zuko was, and stood up to go for a walk. She made her way back to the small river and knelt down next to the edge of the water, gently moving her hand around in it for a few moments before standing up again.

Katara slowly removed her parka, leaving only her underclothes to cover her, and stepped into the clear water. She sighed as it hit her skin, closing her eyes and bending the water up her entire upper body and spiraling it like ribbons around her. Katara smiled peacefully and made steps from the water, forming a spiral staircase and walking up it, higher and higher into the sky, until she felt as if she could reach out and grab the moon if she wanted to.

When she finally looked back down at the ground Katara was completely and utterly shocked. Leaning against the very same tree where she had received her first kiss was the very last person she had expected to see here…

Zuko.

_Why, oh why was_ _he here?_ She had just begun to _completely_ stop shaking and he just _had _to show up, didn't he? Now she was going to have to admit that the kiss they shared was the most amazing gift she'd ever been given. Yes, it was a gift. Something that magnificent was too good to be seen as anything lower than that.

Katara sighed and bended the water to take her down in one giant wave, landing a few feet in front of the former prince.

"Uhhm…" she began.

"Why'd you stop?" he questioned.

"Stop what?"

"Bending."

"Well… because you were staring at me."

"So?"

"So… it's weird."

"Do it again."

"But…"

"Go."

"What if I don't want to?"

"Just do it."

Katara sighed yet again (_How many times had she done that today?_), and walked over to the edge of the river to do what Zuko had asked of her. But as soon as she raised her arms in the air he was right behind her, his hands lying atop on hers, his chest touching her back. She gasped when his skin made contact with hers, but she didn't say anything as he moved their bodies as one in a firebending move. He did it once again and this time she bended the river water like he would fire.

They stopped moving and Katara lowered her arms to her side as Zuko wrapped his around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

"Zuko, you know we can't do this."

"We already are, Katara."

"But we shouldn't."

"Why not?"

"Because… what would Sokka say?"

"Has that ever stopped you before?"

"Well, no… but that's not the point!"

"Then what is?"

"That we can't do this! It's wrong!"

"It's not wrong, Katara."

"Yes it is! You're from the Fire Nation and I'm from the Southern Water Tribe! _It just can't work. _I don't care if your against them now, you're still fire and I'm still water. We're complete opposites!"

Zuko raised his head and turned Katara around, placed his hands on her shoulders, and looked her square in the eye.

"You know what? I don't care where we came from or what the world tells us! What matters is that we're right here, right now, and that we can make our own decisions. I know what _I_ felt when we kissed, Katara, now tell me what you felt."

She looked around nervously, avoiding his gaze and muttering something about the weather.

"Katara, tell me. Be honest."

She sighed for what seemed like the 85 billionth time and finally looked at his gorgeous eyes, not saying anything, but remembering everything.

"I felt… warm."

"Warm?"

"Yes, warm, and nervous, very nervous." She blushed, "And… at peace, like the world could end and I'd be okay, as long as I was right there… with you."

She looked away again and swore her cheeks were hotter than they'd ever been in all her life.

"It's not wrong to feel like this, Katara. You're not betraying anyone. Please don't deny it, I don't know what I'd do if you did."

Katara looked into his golden eyes again and smiled. She pulled Zuko closer and held him tightly, resting her head on his chest.

"My prince…" she whispered, and he tilted her chin up and kissed her.

"My waterbender…" he whispered back, and she smiled.

Zuko swept Katara up bridal-style and carried her all the way back to the campsite. Once they reached it, he laid her down to sleep and tucked her in. He went over to his sleeping bag (A/N: I'm pretty sure it's not a sleeping bag, I'm_ really_ sorry I don't know the correct term, anyone wanna tell me what they sleep in?) and slipped in, closing his eyes and dreaming about things only he would ever know.

All the while, two pairs of eyes were barely open, observing the scene before them, and a small chuckle was heard only by the nocturnal animals around their little campsite.

---

**So… whatcha think? REVIEW, I'm BEGGING YOU! And suggestions for a freaking plot for this story would be AMAZING, because I do not have one! It was supposed to be a oneshot, but now I wanna make it a story. But I need a plot to do that! Or at least suggestions for what to do in the next chapter. THANKS!**

**HoFSoW**


End file.
